An overview of select coastal ecosystem monitoring projects at GMRI Graham Sherwood, Research Scientist, Fisheries Ecology Gulf of Maine Research Institute Portland, Maine About GMRI GMRI catalyzes solutions to the complex challenges of ocean stewardship and economic growth in the Gulf of Maine bioregion through a dynamic fusion of science, education, and community. Taking an Ecosystem Approach Linking… • Ecology • Oceanography • Modeling • Gear Technology • Resource Economics • Ocean Data …to understand a changing Gulf of Maine GMRI research in the coastal zone Forage Fish Predators Maine inshore acoustic herring survey Penobscot River Restoration pre- dam removal food web monitoring Casco Bay Aquatic System Survey Snap-a-Striper Maine inshore acoustic herring survey Originally designed to compliment offshore acoustic herring survey (NMFS) to provide information on relative biomass of inshore vs. offshore stock components. Offshore survey was discontinued in 2012, the year we commenced inshore survey. Inshore survey has been running for 5 years (2012-2016). Survey is shedding light on spatial-temporal patterns of herring during fall spawning period. Maine inshore acoustic herring survey NMFS offshore survey Maine inshore acoustic herring survey Maine inshore acoustic herring survey Maine inshore acoustic herring survey 80 2500 70 2000 60 50 1500 40 1000 NASC 30 20 500 Landings (millions pounds) 10 0 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 Maine inshore acoustic herring survey Continue to track interannual variations in abundance and correlate to other stock parameters (e.g., area 1A landings) Develop predictive models of herring distribution and abundance using habitat information (e.g., depth, bottom type, bottom hardness, temp, chla) Penobscot River Restoration Monitoring freshwater/marine linkages before and after dam removal (with Karen Wilson and Theo Willis, USM; funded by TNC). Before monitoring: how much carbon (via fish) was being transferred among systems (i.e., between river and bay)? How did this compare to system where river passage was much greater (the Kennebec)? We applied a stable isotope approach to observe carbon flow. Penobscot River Restoration Common Rare Light Heavy With stable isotopes, Carbon-12 Carbon-13 you are what you eat. 12C 13C If you eat heavy carbon, you yourself will be made up of 6 protons 6 protons heavy carbon. 6 neutrons 7 neutrons Freshwater Marine consumers consumers Penobscot Restoration River Penobscot Light δ13C Heavy Freshwater (river) Freshwater Distance from river mouth river from Distance Marine (bay) Marine Penobscot Restoration River Penobscot Light δ13C Heavy Freshwater (river) Freshwater Distance from river mouth river from Distance Marine (bay) Marine Penobscot River Restoration What-10 do carbon signatures look like now in Pen Bay/River? -15 (‰) -20 C 15.5 13 δ 15.0 14.5 Penobscot Fish -25 14.0 ) Penobscot Invertebrates ‰ 13.5 N ( Kennebec Fish 15 δ 13.0 Kennebec Inverts cod 12.5 pollock -30 sculpin 12.0 11.5 -18.5 -18.0 -17.5 -17.0 -16.5 -16.0 δ13C (‰) -35 A B C D E Penobscot Bay River Mouth Casco Bay Aquatic Systems Survey (CBASS) What is CBASS? 10 year project to monitor change in the Casco Bay ecosystem, a sentinel system for change in southern coastal Maine. Why CBASS? Rapid warming of GOM; arrival of southern species with possible reordering of nearshore food web; pending changes in fish passage on Presumpscot River. CBASS footprint and parts River sampling Seine sampling Jig sampling Acoustic survey Oceanographic sampling Trap sampling Temperature monitoring River sampling 2014 2015 Trophic linkages? Acoustic survey Jig survey There was strong temporal and spatial overlap with herring and cod at the West Cod Ledges 2014 2015 45 2014 45 2015 0.7 0.7 An early 40 40 0.6 0.6 indication of 35 35 0.5 0.5 linkage between 30 30 0.4 0.4 trophic levels? 25 25 20 20 0.3 0.3 15 15 0.2 0.2 numberCod 10 10 Relative herringRelative 0.1 0.1 5 5 0 0 0 0 Maine striped bass fishery is seasonal recreational fishery made up of migratory (southern origin) and resident (Kennebec) fish. What is the relative proportion of these? What is the spatial footprint of the resident population? How do we test this?... For catch and release, we ask anglers to take a photo of their catch and email to GMRI; with photos we can conduct morphometric (body shape) analysis. For keepers, we ask them to take photo and to save head; with heads, we can extract otoliths for micro-chemical analysis (origin of fish). Supervised (a priori groupings using Multivariate Unsupervised (no a capture location); analyses using priori groupings); discriminant digital cluster analysis function analysis measurements Discriminant Function Analysis Residual Discrimination by Zonation 79% accuracy Linear Discriminant 1 Discriminant Linear Fork Length Cluster analysis K-means cluster plot Component 2 Component 1 Thank you! Acknowledgements (coauthors, collaborators, funders) Inshore herring survey: Adam Baukus, Curt Brown, Julek Chawarski, Katie Wurtzell, Mike Jech; Funding: NOAA, Maine Technology Institute Penobscot Bay/River work: Karen Wilson, Theo Willis; Funding: TNC/NOAA CBASS: Lisa Kerr, Kathy Mills, Walt Golet, Jeff Runge, Riley Young-Morse, Adam Baukus, Zach Whitener, Cameron Thompson, Kola Brown; Funding: internal Snap-a-Striper: Lisa Kerr, Zach Whitener, Tyler Gagne, Duncan Barnes. Funding; unfunded Great Bay-Piscataqua For a Thriving New England WATERKEEPER ® 2 Conservation Law Foundation 50 years in New England • Ocean Program • Climate Change • Coastal Resiliency • Clean Energy • Clean Water • Environmental Justice • Modernizing Transportation • Growing Our Local Food Economy 2 Great Bay Estuary and Seven Head-of-Tide Dams 3 Part of Great Bay-Piscataqua River Watershed 4 Eelgrass is the Foundation of the Ecosystem 5 Macroalgae and Sea Lettuce 6 Ulva Intestinalis 7 Turbidy affects photosynthesis 8 Oysters as filter feeders 9 Oysters and Restoration 10 Eelgrass Lost since 1996 and Oyster Decline from 1993 11 Brants and Blue Crabs 12 Point and Non-Point Source Nitrogen Loads to the Great Bay Estuary Nitrogen Loading Model Total Load 1,225 Tons/yr Non-Point Source Load 800 ±100 tons/yr Portsmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant 14 Fertilizers and Buffers 15 CLF, GBTU, CCA NH 16 Rainbow Smelt and Alewife 17 None and fewer 18 Great Bay Estuary and Watershed North 19 Great Bay Estuary and Watershed South 20 Exeter Dams and Impoundments 21 Exeter’s Great Dam 1638 to 2016 22 Winnicut Dam Removal and Fishway 2009 23 Thompson Brook: Tried and Failed 24 Oyster River Dam in Durham 25 Shorey’s Brook, So. Berwick 2012 26 19 Removed on a Saco River Tributary 2016 27 Souhegan in Merrimack Village 2008 28 • Winnicut: 2009; fish passage unresolved • Exeter/Squamscott: 2016 • Bellamy: 3 dams: first in 2004; 2 Sawyer Mill dams in 2018 ? • Lamprey: 90K alewives in 2016 • Oyster: National Historic Register • Cocheco: 90K alewives in 2016 • Salmon Falls: limited fish passage • Shorey’s Brook: 2012 Others: Souhegan 2008; Thompson Brook effort 29 Contact Information Jeff Barnum Great Bay-Piscataqua Waterkeeper Conservation Law Foundation 27 North Main Street Concord, NH 03301 (603) 770-3201 [email protected] @GBPWaterkeeper www.clf.org/great-bay-waterkeeper/ Great Bay-Piscataqua WATERKEEPER ® For a Thriving New England 30 On the Ground Conservation Subgroup CSP Priority Threats Goals ACFHP goals are modeled after the goals outlined in the National Plan, which highlight the protection, prevention, restoration, and enhancement of fish habitat. • Goal 1: Protect and maintain intact and healthy aquatic systems for native Atlantic coastal, estuarine-dependent, and diadromous fishes. • Goal 2: Prevent further degradation of fish habitats that have been adversely affected. • Goal 3: Restore the quality and quantity of aquatic habitats to improve the overall health of fish and other aquatic organisms (especially those habitats that play an important role in critical life history stages of fish species, e.g. nursery and spawning areas). • Goal 4: Restore aquatic habitats to aid in recovery of threatened or endangered species (state and federal). • Goal 5: Enhance the quality and quantity of aquatic habitats that support a broad natural diversity of fish and other aquatic species. CSP Objectives & Strategic Actions How does ACFHP achieve these goals? The 2012-2016 CSG developed a series of objectives aimed at protection, restoration, science and data, communication and outreach and financial needs and activities. Strategic actions were then developed to achieve these objectives. ACFHP considered human drivers, and key opportunities to address priority threats as well as the constraints and operational needs in developing both the objectives and strategies. The strategic actions are intended to guide our activities. To keep you paying attention: Objectives Protection Objectives Protection objectives were proactive initiatives that identify the need to address priority threats that are impacting aquatic habitats before the habitats are in need of restoration. Restoration Objectives Restoration objectives identify the need to restore habitats that have already been impacted. Color Coding Green = highly consider keeping Blue = completed in last plan or ongoing: remove Red = suggest removing: not within our scope/no longer possible/already accomplished by another entity Orange = discuss whether to keep and/or update ** = was in our Implementation Plan Section A: Habitat Protection Conservation Objectives **Protection Objective 1: Restore, enhance, and maintain adequate